Record Review: Billy Joe Shaver - Everybody's Brother (B)

Billy Joe Shaver’s Everybody’s Brother (September 2007) can be described as the affirmation of faith by an aging and beaten-up honkeytonker. That classic honkeytonk twang is still the centerpiece of his vocal repertoire. Shaver’s ode to Jesus, this album features duets with many major stars including John Anderson, Marty Stuart, Tanya Tucker, and even Johnny Cash. The first duet with John Anderson, “Get Thee Behind Me Satan,” enjoys frequent play on GAC’s The Edge of Country. Standouts on the album include “When I Get My Wings,” which captures the intensity of the best parts of Tramp on Your Street (August 1993), and the Tanya Tucker duet “Played the Game Too Long.” Tanya’s voice sounds as perfectly reedy as it ever has.

Unfortunately the intensity of “When I Get My Wings” is lacking in most of the other tracks. One gets the feeling that Shaver’s own music isn’t so much about catharsis as much as it is about escape. Many of the slower tracks blend into each other a little bit, not providing distinctly memorable experiences. None of the tracks are painful to listen to, however, and when played in the background comfort the soul with their warm fuzziness.

A few of the songs get a little preachy. In fact, the most interesting song musically speaking, the title track, “Everybody’s Brother,” is essentially a song of invitation for a new age. It includes the line “With blind faith you will hit the mark, and seldom will you miss.” That aspect aside, the album is still good news, in that one of America’s great songwriters is still going strong and practicing his craft.

The fine treat of the whole record is the last track, the duet with Johnny Cash, recorded in 1970, “You Just Can’t Beat Jesus Christ.” Providing the inspiration for the name of the album, and presumably the name for the title track, this song is nostalgic of the very best of the collaboration between Cash and Jennings, and serves as a reminder that those glory years probably owed a great deal to the songwriting of Shaver. This one track is worth the price of the record.